Zona Alfa Zombies

 One of the Zone Hostiles encountered are "Zombies", it is not clear if they are flesh (or brain) eating corpses or deranged survivors transformed by The Event.

Vladimir chooses the wrong moment to change magazines while investigating a dacha.

Not sure what happened to Vladimir, but they are coming this way!

Studio Miniatures released a box set of plastic multi-part, multi-pose zombies  a number of years ago. There are sprue shots and a review here. 

I found one of the sprues (I had used one of the figures) so built three of them for Zona Alfa. Unlike previous builds, I left them on their integral bases and blended it onto a Renedra 25mm diameter base with Milliput.

Here are the three of them.

Now to build a lot more (though this Corporation Exploration Team will not be happy).

Compare the Zombie dot com

Size comparison between the Mantic Games The Walking Dead figures and other manufacturers.

TWD, Studio Miniatures, Crooked Dice, Warlord/Wargames Factory, TWD and TWD.

Zombies, hundreds of them...

Okay, not quite hundreds, but quite a few, especially with my rate of painting.

A mixture of Studio Miniatures plastics, Mantic plastics, Bolt Action plastics and West Wind SOTR metals. The bases still need harmonising.

 Bolt Action and Mantic combo.

Studio Miniatures

 West Wind SOTR metal.

Studio Miniatures.

Studio Miniatures.

Studio and Bolt Action plastic.

SOTR metal.

Zombtober 2015, sort of... part four

 So, having been happy with the last batch of figures, it was on to the next batch.

First I had to assemble some bases. I use normal 25mm bases capped with a circle of Slater's embossed 7mm scale paving. I use a circular cutter to create the tops, they then need to be smoothed and then fixed with liquid poly.

One thing to bear in mind is that different brands of "25mm" bases have different sized top surfaces. It is worth checking that the cap fits before running off a batch.

So, I completed 11 bases (okay ten plus one already assembled).

I then grabbed three sprues of Studio Miniatures Zombies. They are very useful miniatures, but do have the disadvantage that they have bases, which I then have to remove with a razor saw.

I also grabbed a handful of previously assembled zombies: a mixed bag including Wargames Factory male and female zombies, Mantic zombies, Studio Miniatures plastics and Michelle's zombie shields again sculpted by Studio Miniatures.

Before undercoating.

 Undercoated.

And here are the finished figures.

Zomb-tober 2015, sort of… part three

Okay, so here are the 'finished' figures.

So, nine very quickly painted zombies.

That is 45 points for 7ombieTV, another eleven to o for 100 points.

But first I have to assemble them.

Zomb-tober 2015 sort of… part two

Okay, so I have dug through the figure storage boxes and found eight plastic zombies plus assembled a Wargames Factory female zombie.

First off I used Humbrol 237 Desert Tan spray paint.

Once the spray paint had dried, I used the Citadel Agrax Earth Shade to cover the figures.

 Once that had dried I re-painted the dead flesh with Humbrol 90 - it is my normal dead flesh colour.

So that was yesterday.

Zomb-tober sort of… part one

As I was watching the first episode of The Walking Dead series six (time flies while your your world is being consumed by the shambling horrors),  I was wondering how long it would take to paint a large batch of zombies.

At my current production rate I estimate that I would have 100 points of zombies for 7ombieTV by about 2020.

And then I noticed something. All the zombies in the scene were the same over all colour (dusty mud) with occasional splashes of colour, mainly dried ick.

This makes sense as zombies are not known for their personal hygiene and as the apocalypse has been going on for a while they are going to get grubby.

Now the colour is going to vary, if it rained, say like in the UK, there would tend to be a graduation of mud over the Zombie as rain washed(diluted) the muck down the figure.

There is also the question of basing: rural bases could be the same colour as the figure, unfortunately I made my Zombie bases urban which does make it a bit more complicated.

So my plan is to dig out some assembled zombies, and try spray painting them an overall colour then detail painting bits of skin and clothing. Finally add washes of mud and blood.

I did assemble a batch of twenty Studio Miniatures German zombies (and some conversions), spray paint their uniforms and detail paint hands faces and other bits fairly quickly. They matched up nicely with the individually painted examples on my painting thread.

Zombtober is an annual Zombie painting thing, I do not paint things quickly enough.

Walking Zed

Inspired by the forthcoming release of Vlad's Army from Crooked Dice, I returned to the Studio Miniatures' Weird War 2 Zombies.

 A simple paint job, Vallejo German Field Grey jacket and trousers, Vallejo Black Grey boots and helmet, Vallejo Black for the belt and webbing. Flesh is Humbrol 90 (available in spray cans as well). Everything except the boots and the helmet then received a wash of Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade. The insides were painted Citadel Mephiston Red, again with a Drakenhof wash.

The figure was then given a dry brush with Citadel Rakarth Flesh (which is very similar to the Khemri Stone I used previously). Next time I might be a bit more restrained.

Final detail/point wash with Citadel Baal Red provided the blood stains.

New Zombies (2)

Studio Miniatures have recently released a plastic sprue of four multi part zombies.

As you can see from the accompanying photographs, the sprue is made up of four different bodies, eight heads and six pairs of arms. A set of flat Renedra 25mm diameter bases are included in the box.

The figures are well sculpted, the mouldings are clean and with minimum flash. The only downside is the moulded base. As I base my figure on paved surface, I used a razor saw to remove the base.

I bought the bargain bucket option, building sixty zombies, though individual sprues are available from Hasslefree and direct from Studio Miniatures.

Finally, for scale here is a completed zombie giving William Killan a bit of a fright.

New Zombies (1)

Studio Miniatures have just released a set of multi part plastic zombies.
Each sprue contains four bodies with separate heads and arms. A complete review will follow shortly.

But as a teaser, here is one zombie, with Crooked Dice's William Killan for scale.